A commentary on rabbinic texts and toxicality

August 02, 2005

Tax holiday for Massachusetts Jews: the Talmudic tax advisor

Next week’s sales tax “holiday” in Massachusetts won’t do observant Jews much good on Tisha b’Av (8/14).[1] So, can’t some well-connected Jewish accountants in the Bay State show Governor Mitt Romney daf 79a from bShabbat? There, the Talmud discusses the highly sophisticated concept of a receipt. Why doesn’t the Massachussets DOR simply give halakhic Jews a receipt so they could shop to their heart’s content? They could borrow from the insight of Rav Ashi and declare to the cashier, “Look here, I am a guy who pays his taxes!” (khazi gavra de-fara’ ana).

Kaspit

[1] The commonwealth added a “Jewish” alternative to Saturday, which is also a tax holiday (8/13). Credit to Shanna at Devarim (also DB).